Extra help from financial aid tech recognized

Michelle Lamb, a senior IS operations technician in the Financial Aid Office, has been named the recipient of the STAR Award for July 2008.

Lamb, who joined the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s staff in 1998, was nominated by Julie Waldvogel, a financial aid counselor.

Waldvogel’s nomination of Lamb follows:

“Michelle put in an incredible amount of time over the past semester, working to serve over 400 students at UW Oshkosh.

“For the 2007-2008 financial aid award year, there were new federal programs, such as the Academic Competitiveness Grant and National SMART grants promised to many students.

“However, there were many software challenges that made it very difficult for these funds to actually reach those qualified. Michelle, along with other staff members, worked diligently to get these funds to students. Many of the students’ files had to be gone through manually.

“Michelle creatively used her resources and worked with various offices on campus to complete this process. This very labor-intensive project was just in addition to all of the other technical support that Michelle provides to the Financial Aid Office on a daily basis.

“Michelle’s commitment and creativity in this project (and on a daily basis) help bring a lot of security and support for our students. She would be an excellent candidate for a STAR Award.”

Winners of the STAR Award receive a framed certificate, a reserved parking space for one month and a gift from University Books & More. The award for exceptional performance is presented each month to a member of the classified staff who has worked at least six months at UW Oshkosh.